Sunyani: Mrs. Gifty Nyarko, a physical planning expert, has urged Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to foster environments that are resilient to climate change in their physical planning efforts. She emphasized the necessity for MMDAs to ensure that physical developments are well-designed and executed within a climate-resilient framework, adhering to spatial planning protocols.
According to Ghana News Agency, Mrs. Nyarko, who also serves as the African Ambassador for Inclusive Urban Governance and Climate-Resilient Development, highlighted the recurring flooding in various parts of the country as a consequence of the diminishing urban greenery. She stressed that Assemblies must allocate adequate spaces for greenery and landscaping. Merely granting building permits is insufficient; regular inspections should be conducted by MMDAs to ensure compliance with permit provisions by estate developers.
Mrs. Nyarko pointed out the unfortunate trend in which urban greenery, wetlands, open spaces, grasslands, and natural drainage corridors have been replaced by buildings, roads, pavements, and other hard surfaces across the country. As the Executive Director for the African Centre for Urban Resilience Planning and Inclusive Governance, she advocated for the protection of urban greenery as a national priority, essential for flood management, environmental protection, and climate adaptation strategies.
The destruction of natural flood defense systems, such as cutting down trees, filling wetlands, and encroaching on waterways, is largely responsible for the frequent flooding in areas like Accra. Mrs. Nyarko emphasized the importance of reserving areas for recreation and environmental protection. As urban greenery diminishes, rainwater is unable to infiltrate the soil, leading to rapid surface runoff, which overwhelms drainage systems and results in flooding.
She explained that nature's design involves trees intercepting rainfall, vegetation slowing down runoff, wetlands storing excess water, and open spaces allowing rainwater to permeate the ground, forming the first line of defense against flooding.